Monday, June 30, 2008

I'm delighted to announce that book number 58 in the series has now been published in the US and Canada, and will be available in the UK very shortly. It's about Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights, and is written by Hayden Childs. Here's the back cover copy:

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Richard had been married for nearly a decade to Linda, who sang his songs with empathy and clarity and who, moreover, put up with his quest for truth and self-knowledge, and bore his children, and loved him throughout. And yet she was no longer the love of his life. Richard's career was older than his marriage. But the previous three albums he had made were muddled. Two had sold poorly, leading to his record label dropping him. His last one had never been released. He was thirty-two and had no record contract. His career appeared to be in a long slide toward oblivion. The choices Thompson faced were nothing short of Hell. So he cut Shoot Out the Lights, an album about his own little inferno.

Shoot Out the Lights was the last album that Richard and Linda Thompson recorded together as husband and wife. It is a testament to the power of simple production and lyrical directness, yet behind those qualities its eight songs run through a gamut of deep emotion: despair, loss, fear, betrayal, indifference, and, ultimately, existential abandon. Hayden Childs weaves the story of this astonishing record from the perspective of a man who is obsessed with it, a man who is living and reliving his own trip through Hell.

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Hayden is guest-blogging this week over at Powells, and you can read the first post right here. It's a treat for any fans of the Fall.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I'm very pleased to say that three of our backlist titles in the series will be getting a deserved turn in the spotlight tomorrow evening. The event kicks off at 7.30pm sharp on Thurs June 26th, at SOLAS BAR, on Ninth St. btw 2nd and 3rd Aves.

Much more information follows below:

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33 1/3 is a series of short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 50 titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike. St. Mark's Bookshop will invite 33 1/3 Authors LD Beghtol (Magnetic Field's 69 Love Songs), Franklin Bruno (Elvis Costello's Armed Forces) and Elisabeth Vincentelli (Abba's Abba Gold) to the Solas stage.

About our readers:

LD BEGHTOL (MAGNETIC FIELDS' 69 LOVE SONGS) is the singer/musical director for the experimental pop outfit LD & the New Criticism and is one-half of the bicoastal musical project Moth Wranglers. In 1998 Beghtol was invited by songwriter/producer Stephin Merritt to collaborate as a guest musician and designer on the Magnetic Fields' 1999 triple-CD boxset, 69 Love Songs (for which he wrote the 33 1/3 book). Beghtol has written extensive about the arts and culture for Time Out, The Village Voice, Chickfactor, the Advocate and other publications

FRANKLIN BRUNO (ELVIS COSTELLO'S ARMED FORCES) is a singer-songwriter, academic, writer, and blogger originally from Upland, California Civics, the first album by Bruno's new band, The Human Hearts, was released by Tight Ship Records in 2007. In addition to his own recordings, he also records with The Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle as The Extra Glenns. Bruno writes music criticism for The Village Voice, Time Out New York and Salon.com. He received a doctorate in philosophy from UCLA and currently is a visiting professor of philosophy at Bard College.

ELISABETH VINCENTELLI (ABBA'S ABBA GOLD) is Arts & Entertainment Editor at Time Out New York. She also contributes to the New York Times, the LA Times and Slate. She considers Sweden to be her own personal Holy Land of Pop Music, with Stockholm as its Mecca.

Signed books will be available at St. Mark's Bookshop before the reading. All St. Mark's Bookshop events are free to the public. It begins Thursday, June 26th, at 7:30PM sharp, at SOLAS BAR (232 E. Ninth Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues).

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

I'm very pleased to say that Reign in Blood, book number 57 in the series, is now on sale around the US. (Actually, Amazon already sold their initial copies, but there are lots more currently shipping to them, and to the usual stores who support the series.)

D.X. Ferris, the book's kick-ass author, put a huge amount of work into this one, as you can see from this list of people interviewed during his research:

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

And because these clips are so great, I am stealing them from the email that Steve at Skylight sent around to the people. (Captions are his as well).

> (how many drugs is Geezer on? And Ozzy in yellow pants with a> rainbow!)> And for you rubber powered flight and aviation fans:

John is also playing with the Mountain Goats at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County the night before. Apparently the evening revolves around the fact that "one hallmark of mammals is the evolution of a highly developed brain capable of orchestrating amazingly complex behaviors." You go, mammals!

At 10:45am, Skylight is the rendezvous point for VISIONARY HOLLYWOOD, a guided bus tour to the most extraordinary historical spiritual spaces in LA, hosted by Erik Davis (Led Zeppelin's 4th album) in collaboration with Kim Cooper (Neutral Milk Hotel's "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea") and her Esotouric bus adventures. After the bus returns at 3:45, Erik and Kim will be signing their books in the store. Later that evening, John Darnielle will be signing his Black Sabbath book.

For more info, or to grab one of the last remaining seats on VISIONARY HOLLYWOOD, visit http://www.esotouric.com/vision